Talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Ashok Gehlot said the results in urban constituencies were unexpected, as the popular mood seemed to be in the Congress' favour.

Ahmedabad: Congress's Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot today said the party would focus more on urban areas, following its dismal performance in major cities in the state assembly elections last month.

Talking to reporters in Ahmedabad, Mr Gehlot said the results in urban constituencies were unexpected, as the popular mood seemed to be in the Congress's favour.

"Poll results in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot were quite disappointing. It was not expected, looking at people's mood, particularly in Surat. The results were totally unexpected and beyond our understanding," said the Congress general secretary.

"So we have decided to focus on cities and address the issues of city-dwellers to strengthen the party in urban areas. We will continue raising the issues concerning the rural population too. The Congress would do the same thing in other parts of the country too," he added.

The Congress, which put up a tough fight to the incumbent BJP in the December 2017 Gujarat elections, received a major setback in urban areas. The opposition party won only four out of 36 seats across the four major cities.

The Congress won four out of 16 seats in the Ahmedabad city, while it failed to open the account in Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot cities, where the BJP made a clean sweep.

Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, who had supported the Congress, too had announced after the election results that his outfit would focus more on cities.